Indus Valley Times

By Dr Ramachandra Behera

Bhubaneswar, June 11:Observing World Environment Week, Vedanta Aluminium, the largest aluminium producer in India, undertook its annual #GreenHearts campaign which aims to bolster awareness and actions around environmental conservation. Adhering to the principles of ‘Lifestyle for Environment – LiFE’ a Government of India initiative and this year’s UN theme ‘#BeatPlasticPollution’, the week-long campaign, now in its third year, involved a series of initiatives that sought to address the pressing issue of plastic pollution and promote a cleaner, greener future.

These Included the introduction of electric vehicles at the plants, city clean-up drives, awareness rallies and mega plantation drives among others. The company also organized a widely attended online workshop by Mr Rakesh Khatri, popularly known as the ‘Nest Man of India’, who shared the importance of protecting common birds to help maintain ecological balance. Hegave a demonstration on crafting and installing simple handmade nests that are proven to have a high adoption rate by birds such as sparrows that are fast disappearing, with a home so that they can breed and thrive.

Vedanta Aluminium’s mega aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda,alumina refinery in Lanjigarh, mines at Jamkhani in Odisha and its subsidiary BALCO, at Korba, Chhattisgarh came together to galvanise community action around the #GreenHearts campaign. The campaign included mega plantation drivesto plant over 2500 saplings in under a week. Extensive city clean-up drives were conducted around the operations in collaboration with the local communities. Over 15,000 cloth bags were distributed amongst people around the plant areas and shopkeepers, to replace plastic ones for grocery shopping.Drawing competitions and awareness sessions were organised in rural community schools on the topics of environmental conservation and eradicating plastic pollution.

The company also introduced electric vehicles (EVs) for travel within plant premises along with several carpooling initiatives. Several awareness rallies and cyclothonswere organizedto raise public awareness on makinginformed and sustainable lifestyle choices. The sessions also aimed at spreading awareness about the harmful effects of plastic usage and promoting the use of more sustainable alternatives made of aluminium, jute etc.

Commenting on the impact of the company’s activities as part ofWorld Environment Week, Mr Rahul Sharma, CEO, Vedanta Ltd – Aluminium Business said “Our operations are aligned to be in close step with the long-term needs of our shared ecosystems. Integrating sustainability into every aspect of our business decision-making, we measure the impact of our success against the socio-economic transformation and environmentalstewardship that we achieve among our communities. Our #GreenHearts campaign is yet another step in this regard,galvanizing our teams and community membersthrough awareness and climate action to accelerate the world’s shared journey to a Net Zero future.”

Vedanta Aluminium has adopted atwo-fold strategy of mitigating and offsetting its carbon footprint. Mitigation sees the company enhance its manufacturing excellence for higher energy conservation, increasing the quantum of renewables in its energy mix and transitioning to low-carbon fuels. To offset its carbon footprint, the company is creating massive carbon sinks through extensive afforestation in and around its plants.It has achieved several milestones in its journey to enhance environmental management practices across its operations, including:

·         First to launch low-carbon, ‘green’ aluminium range, branded ‘Restora’, catering to the emerging demand for metals with a low carbon footprint

·         Ranked 2^nd in the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Index world rankings for the aluminium industry in FY22, making it the second most sustainable aluminium producer in the world today

·         Recycled 13.69 billion litres of water in FY23, in the journey towards water-positive operations

·         Reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 24% in FY 2022, from the 2012 baseline while increasing production by eight times over the same period

·         Planted around 2.5 lakh saplings in FY23

·         Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certified the company’s smelter and its captive power plant located within the SEZ at Jharsuguda for high sustainability standards

·         The company’swide product range has been verified by Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) International for upholding high standards of sustainability

·         Partnered with leading environment conservation firm ERM, to bolster its biodiversity management plan around its operational areas

·         DeployedIIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) technology in the company’s power plantsto improve emissions control to further reduce carbon footprint